Jordan festival boycott

REPORT ONE OF TWO:
AMMAN - Arab singers will boycott a music festival in Jordan next month over claims it is being set up by the same company which organised Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations in May, a union leader said on Monday.

Jordan's tourism board, however, denies that the company involved in the Israeli festivities is involved in the festival. "Publicis Groupe has nothing to do with Jordan Festival. Another French company, Les Visiteurs du Soir, is organising the event and it has been contracted by the tourism ministry," Tourism Board chief Nayef Fayez said.

Hadid said that Jordanian popular singer Omar Abdallat and Egyptian crooner Amr Diab are among Arab singers "who have announced their boycott of the event in line with decisions by their unions."
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REPORT TWO OF TWO:
Amman - The Jordanian government appeared Monday under mounting pressure to cancel the Jordan Festival after at least three local and Arab singers announced they will not be performing at the event, citing "suspicion of normalizing ties with Israel.

President of the Cairo-based General Union of Arab Artists Sayyed Radi told the Jordan Times that Egyptian singers Amr Diab and Mohammad Hamaqi were not coming to Jordan for their scheduled concerts.
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